October 06, 2009

Reporters Notebooks

Mark Anderson, Las Vegas Review-Journal: Nevada Las Vegas coach Mike Sanford is officially on the hot season. University president Neal Smatresk said he was troubled by the state of the program after Saturday's 63-28 loss at Nevada, a game in which the Rebels gave up 773 yards.

David Jones, Florida Today: Florida's Tim Tebow returned to practice in full pads on Tuesday, fueling speculation that he will play Saturday night against Louisiana State.

Mike Strange, Knoxville News-Sentinel: Tennessee defensive tackle Wes Brown said he was the victim of a chop block in Saturday's game against Auburn.

Paul Finebaum, Mobile Press-Register: Auburn is 5-0 and ranked No. 17 in the nation, but are the Tigers beneficiary of a relatively weak schedule thus far?

Brian Murphy, Idaho Statesman: Western Athletic Conference commissioner Karl Benson didn't like undefeated Boise State falling in the polls. "I'm disappointed, but not surprised. I guess there were voters who were more impressed with Virginia Tech's eight-point win over Duke than Boise State's 18-point win," he said.

Bob Condotta, Seattle Times: Washington athletic director Scott Woodward has asked the Pacific 10 to review some of the controversial calls
in the Huskies' game against Notre Dame, which had an officiating crew
from the Pac-10 and a replay crew from the Big East. Washington running
back Chris Polk said Notre Dame "didn't beat us, the refs beat us, in a sense."

Dave Hooker, Knoxville News-Sentinel: Auburn assistant
Trooper Taylor said he and coach Gene Chizik received several letters
from trash-talking Tennessee fans leading to last Saturday's game against the Volunteers.

Michael DiRocco, Florida Times-Union: Backup quarterback John Brantley is one of four Florida players and coaches
— including Urban Meyer — to receive prank calls and text messages over
the past several days, just as Tim Tebow did in the days before and
after the Gators' loss in 2007 to LSU in Baton Rouge.

Jon Solomon, Birmingham News: Georgia receiver A.J. Green should not have been penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct after celebrating his go-ahead touchdown in a loss to LSU last Saturday, SEC coordinator of officials Rogers Redding said.

Get The Picture: As if Georgia fans didn't have enough complaints about officiating in Saturday's loss to LSU, check out this non-call.

The National Championship Issue: Things really haven't changed much, have they? In fact, if you think back at all college football has been through, the powerhouse programs have been pulling away from the rest of the pack for a long time now. That's the direction college football has headed for decades.

Rob Moseley, Eugene Register-Guard: Oregon quarterback Jeremiah Masoli sat out Tuesday's practice because of a knee injury, and at this point it seems likely that Nate Costa will be the starting quarterback at UCLA on Saturday.

Mike Hlas, Cedar Rapids Gazette: The Hlist: From published sources nationwide and vendors with sweet deals on "Chicago 2016" T-shirts.

Spokesman-Review: Idaho freshman tight end Clayton Homme was arrested for driving under the influence and public urination after Idaho’s 31-29 win over Colorado State on Saturday night.

Joey Johnston, Tampa Tribune: Jim Leavitt said he's not happy about a South Florida-sponsored billboard, which went up Monday near downtown Tampa, to celebrate the Bulls' recent victory at Florida State.